Jury finds Degorski eligible for death penalty

A Cook County jury on Wednesday found James Degorski eligible for the death penalty, a day after convicting him of the 1993 murders of seven workers at a Brown's Chicken restaurant in Palatine.

Jurors return to the Criminal Courts Building on Thursday to hear testimony and decide whether to impose a death sentence on Degorski, 37. The only other option would be life in prison.

Jurors will likely hear from relatives of the victims and perhaps from Degorski's family as well.

Before finding Degorski eligible for the death penalty, the jury deliberated Wednesday for a little more than an hour, nearly as long as it took jurors to convict him of the slayings a day earlier.

The jury found he killed two or more people, committed the murder during the course of an armed robbery and acted in a cold and calculating manner -- all criteria that must be met to impose a death sentence.

Lawyers on both sides spoke before the jury deliberated in private.

"Today you have to determine not the measure of the man but the measure of the crime," Assistant State's Attorney Louis Longhitano said.

Longhitano reminded jurors that Degorski and his accomplice, Juan Luna, stole cash from the restaurant safe and took meticulous steps to commit the crime and conceal their involvement.

"This was carefully calculated and crafted," Longhitano said. "That's why he got away with it for nine years."

Assistant Public Defender Michael Mayfield argued that prosecutors were only speculating that Degorski's actions were cold and premeditated or that he planned to kill multiple people.

It was impossible to know what someone was thinking at a given moment, he said.

"Yes, you convicted him yesterday of two murders," Mayfield said. "But (prosecutors) have to prove to you that he intended to kill two or more persons."

The defense attorney also emphasized that Degorski's conviction did not make his eligibility for the death penalty a foregone conclusion

"This hearing is not a formality," Mayfield said. "Go through the evidence with a fine-toothed comb and determine where (prosecutors) have -- and where they have not -- met their burden of proof."

Luna was also found eligible for the death penalty at his 2007 trial, but he was sentenced to life in prison after a lone juror refused to impose death.